Phenomenal

 "For what can be known about God is plain for them to see, because God has clearly shown it to them".  Paul - Romans 1:19.

We know the passage, how the Apostle states that what can be known of the Lord's eternal power and divine nature have been clearly made evident, leaving us all without an excuse to acknowledge his existence (1:20), so that being the case, how would we show this today - how would we take Paul's approach with the philosopher's at Mars Hill (Acts 17) and apply it through what we are able to say today?

I recently was involved in a series of conversations that focused around just that, which generated a written response to consolidate the key arguments and thoughts into something cohesive for future reference. Here's the results...

The Threshold of Eternity

Phenomenology and the science of the Numinous.

Let's start with a parable.

The Cosy Coffee Corner was a popular spot for all manner of thinkers. On this particular afternoon, a theist was going over some familiar ground with a rationalist friend on the subject of why the chairs they were sitting on were the colour blue.

The chair was what it was, stated the theist, because it was sustained by a designer to be so, and thereby shared the same glorious essential reality of all things that were made. Whilst not denying either the 'blueness' or 'chair-ness' of the object in question, the rationalist felt it unnecessary to require the existence of an ultimate creator for these things to be so – it is self-evidently merely what it is, and that is just the state of things.

As the conversation ensued, a post-modernist visitor interrupted. Whilst they might define the said chair as blue to them, it may prove red to someone else, or to someone else in the room, it might be properly defined as a yellow table.

Before anyone could go any further, another voice raised itself to refute them all. This belonged to the follower of contemporary paganism. You are ALL wrong – it MUST be defined as Pink Elephant – that is what has been determined – and if you seek to say anything contrary to that, you will be cancelled, socially disgraced and perpetually ostracised by the new order for your crime.

The theist and the rationalist, sitting somewhat closer now, said nothing, but marked the monstrosity of the moment. The Post Modernist sought to protest, but was quickly expelled, as a crew arrived to bring an elephantine flavour to all the fittings and furnishings in the place.

A young man across the room, still weighing up the meaning of life, observed as these things transpired, certain that the chair was indeed blue, and that there was indeed a clear purpose and design in its being there. A question deeply troubled him as he watched these things unfold – why do so many seek to dismiss or deny or displace what is clearly self-evident about where we are? What drives all the noise and, in some cases, fury, against what is true?

THE CONVERSATION (understanding where we are).

Prior to his death in 2011, atheist Christopher Hitchens noted that there were two key issues of life which should cause any person of his persuasion serious pause.

The first of these is the astonishing physical fine-tuning of the laws of the universe, which prove to be extraordinarily, suspiciously exact in order that matter is possible and then, there is an even more particular exactness so life can exist here. Richard Dawkins recently stated to geneticist Francis Collins that this particular set of facts is a truly valid argument in respect to the possibility of intelligent design.

The second and perhaps less well understood consideration is the existence of and the palpable impact upon us of all of what is commonly termed numinous – that internal 'geiger-counter' that registers 'something' beyond the merely material in play around and within us amidst our brief existence here.

The fine-tuning ramification have become significant in their own right in the twenty first century. The ground-breaking proofs by the likes of Alexander Valenkin and Alan Guth on the definite and finite beginning of the universe certainly harmonise with the Kalam cosmological argument in respect to design, providing a 'big picture' schematic for the galactic origins of time and space, but this only provides us with a fraction of the actual picture of reality that impinges upon each of us. As Jacques Vallee argued in his TED presentation on the physics of information, we are only beginning to open the door on a far wider realm of metaphysical reality, and this most certainly shows more going on behind consciousness and the pliability of energy.

This all leads to some deep considerations.

OUT THERE

In the 1970s, NASA launched the two voyager space craft to explore the outer planets of the Solar System and then head into the realms beyond – into the very sphere of intergalactic space. It was clear that within a single lifetime, these two probes would become the man-made objects that would travel further than any other terrestrial vessel, so the issue to be addressed before launch was what should be included aboard these ships to state something about us?

It was decided that an anodyne record would be placed in each vessel, each inscribed with a series of images and graphs that would provide essential data as to the astronomical, chemical and biological nature of human life on earth; a scientific portfolio into what we are.

The project was enthusiastically commenced, but even as the material was collated, project leaders like Carl Sagan recognised there was a problem – more had to be included on the disc. There had to be images, sounds and music – there had to be something that directly sought to express who and what we are.

The Voyager example tells us an essential truth about the very nature of our reality.

Beyond the merely empirical “stuff” of the hard sciences, the real scope of human existence arises from a field of reference and relevance that, in itself, actually conveys wealth and meaning.

SEEING DIFFERENTLY

To glean just how imperative this reality is, imagine seeing what is being considered here from the perspective of an extra- terrestrial, who has obtained the basic 'hard' (initial) data of the Voyager disc. This enables the entity to find earth and to understand its basic structural components. So, it arrives and sees these creatures, homo sapiens – in their natural environment, going about their daily business – and this is where things rapidly become very puzzling.

Our visitor quickly notices and is wondering why certain locations and activities engaged in there are occurring at all, because they are clearly of some import, and yet, they appear to have no biological, chemical or environmental utility whatsoever. At a place termed the British Library, there are vast amounts of collected paper and at this structure called the Albert Hall, the space is often filled with a vast array of sounds – but to what ends?

Such materials, such structures cannot readily be understood, for they all derive from a fundamental source – the very human-ness of our nature.

As Phenomenological Philosophers have stated, you don't understand Shakespeare's plays via surveys or a laboratory experiment. Bach's Fugues or Michelangelo's Art are mere detached actions and shaped stones if you only apply an 'external' field of reference – something much deeper is in play.

Consciousness gives a meta-narrative to such activities, rooted in the significance of interpretation. Meaning becomes key.

A WORK OF ART

Mankind defines itself by something far richer and deeper than mere existence.

Nature, notes Roger Scruton, provides us with sounds, but it is the human capacity alone which allows these to be fashioned and crafted into a landscape of exquisite beauty in respect to how these can be combined and presented to express melody and harmony, majesty and tragedy to the ears that can 'hear' and appreciate such craft.

Music, art and scholarship are external realities that impress and impact profoundly upon our inner field of reference from which they derive, connecting us to something rich and real beyond the merely cognitive – the merely pragmatic.

Reality, in other words, is far more nuanced than what is expressed in a 'third person' objective analysis. Actual reality must penetrate us to be truly valid and active in respect to the vibrant, multi-layered nature of the cosmos.

THE MESSAGE

When we appreciate something of these issues, we can engage in a 'lifting' of the means employed in the physical realm to facilitate a bridge into the life sphere of the internal realm that is essential to ourselves, and here we find an entire domain to be populated with meaning, purpose and value. This sphere, in effect, adds 'breath and flesh' to the external structures of our existence, expanding life far beyond the merely material.

The world directly experienced in this fashion becomes so much more than something mundane and utilitarian. Whilst science provides a framework in respect to the 'where' of our existence, we require this 'inner' narrative to be rich so we can seek to explore and appreciate the 'how' or the 'why'.

Objective facts take us so far – they tell us a great deal about the structural nature of many things, but existence is far more textured than this. The 'scaffolding' of physics provides, at best, a back-drop for something far more “magical” than the movement of molecules and atoms.

None of us can deny this – to do so would be to empty life of all which genuinely makes it significant.

The reality this presents us with, in effect, defines the human soul, and should leave us with several deep and disturbing questions. What does the existence of such a realm of magnificence allude to? What does it say about us? What 'image' is painted by the pervasive presence of such a palpable reality?

THE CONSIDERATION

As the external realm, sustained by the extraordinary laws of fine-tuning states the case for design, so our internal world, enlivened and developed by the splendours of art, produces a flourishing married to a natural marriage to the sublime. This allows for moments of true encounter with a 'glory' beyond ourselves – the touch of the numinous.

All such themes, properly examined and honestly weighed, lead us to the transcendent – the source and the sustainer of all of our realm of excellence.

Amidst such irreducible meaning, we resonate with a 'coming home' – a discovery of true place within the realm of the world.

THE SPIRIT BEHIND THE MATERIAL

Jordan Peterson recently presented Richard Dawkins with the evaluated position of leading mathematician, Dr Roger Penrose, that on the basis of his understanding of his field, he could confidently state that consciousness exists outside the realm of the material – coming from beyond this. All of this, noted Peterson, clearly points to there being a 'one level up' in respect to what truly matters – something 'above' continually pulling us beyond the rudimentary to commune with a majesty beyond ourselves.

The imperative to recognise is if consciousness is merely 'emergent' (so, the view of the schizophrenic is just as plausible as anyone else), there is no criteria for what, in effect, is deemed “reasonable” (it is all, at best, relative, because there no basis of objective measurement).

Consciousness impresses itself in such a manner that it conveys that there is a realm of absolutes, hence, our aesthetic validation of what is good in art or even amidst the mundane aspects of human existence (in respect to what matters morally).

So, in respect to what can be known, we a have a 'fixed point' that leads us beyond ourselves – our various 'models' of reality – to reality itself.

FULL CIRCLE

Dr Anthony Flew was a world leading atheistic thinker for most of his life, but all of that changed in his last decade. He found himself confronted by the irreducible data that empirically 'stated' that life here was the result of superlative design, both in respect to the building blocks of the universe itself and in the very nature of the 'front-loaded' multi-complex information contained even in the simplest of cells. This lead him to abandon his view and begin to re-evaluate the sheer array of ways in which what was 'above' us continually impressed upon our lives, if we are willing to open our eyes and see.

Eternity impinges upon the soul, noted Solomon, by surrounding us with a trove of extraordinary beauty. We merely need to be free enough, bold enough, to read its pervasive message.